What to Eat the Night Before a Game: Fuel Up for Peak Performance

Wondering what to eat the night before a game to ensure you are fueled to perform at your best?

Check out these meal and snack ideas that will provide you with the energy needed for peak performance on game day.

What to Eat the Night Before a Game: Carbohydrate-Rich Dinner

When planning what to eat the night before a game, I encourage athletes to make carbohydrates the foundation of their meal.

Carbohydrates provide athletes with the energy needed to perform at their best. Consuming a dinner centered around carbohydrates the night before a game can help ensure that athletes are optimally fueled for their upcoming competition.

In addition to carbohydrates, athletes should include a moderate amount of protein in their meal, and round out their dinner with colorful veggies.

Putting this together, I recommend that athletes aim to fill half of their dinner plate with carbohydrate-rich foods such as pasta, rice, potatoes, and fruit, ¼ of their plate with protein, and ¼ of their plate with vegetables.

What to Eat the Night Before a Game: Dinner Ideas

Some of my favorite dinner ideas for athletes the night before a game include:

• Spaghetti with marinara sauce, grilled chicken, and vegetables, breadsticks
• Chicken or tofu stir fry with vegetables and steamed rice
• Salmon with a sweet potato, green beans, dinner rolls, fresh sliced melon
• Grilled chicken breast, rice, corn, asparagus, mixed berries
• Penne pasta with pesto and shrimp, side salad, breadsticks
• Turkey sub sandwich, pretzels, Greek yogurt and berries parfait
• Breakfast for Dinner: Pancakes, scrambled eggs with veggies, turkey sausage, strawberries

Pro Tip: if planning a meal for a sports team, make sure to check out my blog with 25 team dinner ideas. The dinners are great options to help ensure the team is fueled and ready for game day.

What to Eat the Night Before a Game: Evening Snack

If an athlete eats dinner several hours before going to bed, I recommend eating an evening snack as well. Similar to their dinner, the evening snack should provide a good source of carbohydrates and a moderate amount of protein.

A high-carb snack may be particularly beneficial if an athlete has an early morning game and does not plan to eat a full breakfast breakfast before the competition.

Pro Tip: A fruit smoothie is a great evening snack option for an athlete the night before a game. When made with frozen fruit, sliced banana, Greek yogurt, and milk, the smoothie will provide both carbohydrates and protein, setting the athlete up for sports nutrition success.

Hydrate the Night Before a Game

It is important for athletes to start their game in an optimally hydrated state. Dehydration can impact an athlete’s health as well as sports performance (1).

Thus, prioritizing hydration in the days leading up to a competition is beneficial for athletes.

With their dinner the night before a game, I encourage athletes to drink a healthy beverage such as:

• Water
• Low-fat milk
• 100% fruit
• 100% vegetable juice
• Infused water

What About Electrolytes the Night Before a Game?

Given that athletes lose both fluid and electrolytes (mainly sodium) when they sweat, it can be beneficial to include foods containing sodium in their dinner the night before a game.

Some simple ideas include:

• Tomato sauce
• Broth-based soups
• Deli meat, cheese
• Cottage cheese
• Pickles, olives, condiments

If an athlete has been advised to restrict their sodium intake, the athlete should consult with a sports dietitian nutritionist to develop a plan for meeting their fluid and electrolyte needs during activity.

Pro Tip: Chicken noodle soup can be a good option for athletes to enjoy with their dinner the night before a game. The soup will provide both fluid and sodium supporting the hydration needs of athletes.

Enjoy Familiar Foods the Night Before a Game

The night before a game it is best for athletes to choose familiar foods that they know they feel comfortable competing on. Enjoying a well-planned dinner with familiar foods can help provide athletes with confidence on game day that they are fueled to perform at their best.

If the athlete is traveling for competition, I recommend choosing a restaurant that serves foods the athlete is comfortable with eating before competition. The night before a game is not the time to try new foods or experiment with the local cuisine.  

Pro Tip: When traveling for a game, athletes should pack a variety of healthy foods that they can eat in their hotel room prior to a game. Some of my top ideas include bagels, nut butter, instant oatmeal, and dried fruit.

Foods to Avoid the Night Before a Big Game

The night before a game I recommend that athletes avoid any foods that may cause them to experience GI discomfort during the night, such as spicy foods, high-fat foods, or greasy foods.

In addition, I would suggest that athletes limit high-fiber foods, including beans and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts) the night before a game. These foods are known to cause gas and bloating, which could impact the athlete’s sleep quality prior to the game.

Each athlete is unique in terms of what foods they feel most comfortable eating the night before a competition. Most important is that athletes should stick with foods they are familiar with and know they are comfortable consuming before going to bed.

Limit Caffeine the Night Before a Game

In addition to food, I encourage athletes to limit the amount of caffeine they consume the night before a game. This is particularly important if the athlete is sensitive to the effects of caffeine and feels it disrupts their sleep.

The half-life of caffeine is ~4-6 hours (2). Thus, I suggest athletes consider limiting caffeine at least 6 hours before bedtime to support getting good sleep the night before a game (3).

Avoid Alcohol the Night Before a Big Game

Although this may be common sense, it’s worth mentioning that athletes should avoid alcohol the night before a big game. Alcohol is a diuretic, which is counter to an athlete’s goal of hydrating before an event (4, 5).

Consuming alcohol is also associated with disrupted sleep, having a negative impact on both sleep quality and duration (6).

Finally, athletes should be aware that alcohol can have negative impacts on performance. The negative impacts of heavy drinking on sports performance may last for several days (7).

Prioritize Sleep the Night Before a Game

Finally, the importance of getting a good night’s sleep prior to a game cannot be overstated. Inadequate sleep is associated with impaired athletic performance, slowed-reaction time, difficulty concentrating, and an increased risk of injury (8). 

In addition, sleep loss the night before a competition has been shown to negatively impact exercise performance the following day (9).

Thus, when planning their schedule for the day before the game, athletes should make sure their plans support getting adequate sleep so they are well rested for competition.

What to Eat the Night Before a Game

You are now set with a variety of ideas for what athletes can eat the night before a game to fuel optimal performance.

For additional sports nutrition tips for game day, make sure to check out my blog with pre-game meal ideas for athletes.

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About the Author

Mandy Tyler is a Sports Dietitian Nutritionist in the San Antonio, TX area. She is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, a Licensed Athletic Trainer, and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist through the American College of Sports Medicine. Mandy has experience working with athletes at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. She believes the key to reaching one’s full potential, both in everyday life and in sports performance, relies on a healthy nutritional foundation.

If you are looking to take your performance to the next level, make sure to check out my new Sports Nutrition Game Day Guide. This downloadable guide is written to help athletes develop an individualized plan to achieve peak performance on game day.